Javon and Jamaal Bailey of Camden face multiple charges as the result of a warrant executed in the Bergen Square neighborhood Thursday morning.
By Matt Skoufalos | January 26, 2017
Camden County Metro Shield. Credit: CCPD.
A pair of brothers from Camden City was arrested Thursday morning during the execution of a warrant in the 1100 block of Baring Street that also led to the seizure of drugs and weapons.
Jamaal Bailey, 36, and his brother Javon, 26, were charged with multiple offenses during a raid by officers from the Camden County Metro Police, New Jersey State Police, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, and the Camden County Sheriff’s Department.
Jamaal Bailey faces two counts of Possession of a Weapon During a CDS offense, two counts of Possession of a CDS With Intent to Distribute, Possession With Intent to Distribute Within 1,000 Feet of a School, Conspiracy, Maintaining a CDS Production Facility, and Certain Persons Not to Have Weapons, a charge authorities said is based on a previous drug conviction.
Javon Bailey was charged with two counts of Possession of a CDS, two counts of Possession With Intent to Distribute, Conspiracy, and Possession of an Imitation CDS With Intent to Distribute.
Both men were remanded to the Camden County Jail.
The bust also allegedly netted 1,050 bags of heroin, 400 grams of unpackaged cocaine, and loaded Hi-Point 9mm and 357 Taurus handguns.
“The department has, in a very short period of time, taken its thousandth gun off the streets of Camden,” said Camden County Public Affairs Director Dan Keashen. “We’re always going to continue to remain vigilant against what we’re seeing out in the street.”
Since the November arrests of 15 men and women in the culmination of the seven-month “Operation Inferno,” which took down the alleged top suppliers of cocaine and heroin in the Camden City and North Philadelphia area, Keashen said law enforcement has continued to collaborate to ferret out deep pockets of drug trade in the city.
“I think those arrests have helped considerably, and it has made what we hope to be a dent in the narcotics trade,” he said. “But the challenge still exists, and we’re working on a daily basis with our law enforcement partners to try to limit that challenge.”
“Drug gangs do more than just ruin inner city neighborhoods as the poison they push reaches even the wealthiest communities,” said Camden County Police Chief J. Scott Thomson in a statement. “Too many people are dying from the violence associated with drugs and by the narcotics themselves as overdoses continue to rise. We will continue our coordinated effort from every level of law enforcement to protect neighborhoods and the people of Camden and the region.”
According to figures provided by the city, 631 people overdosed in Camden in 2015; 114 of those were saved by Narcan applications, and 41 died. In 2016, 597 people overdosed in Camden City; 91 were saved with Narcan, and 40 died.
All persons accused of a crime are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. An arrest is not a conviction.
